About pulsewidthmoments

Can it be? Am I back? Maybe, lol. I have been a busy bee working on lots of other pursuits and even a few other blogs. Personal finance, who knew? But apparently when you have loads of student debt you’re pretty knowledgeable about the pitfalls that got you there and the secrets for digging out.

Anyway, what I really came here for was to share my latest cooking adventure. Recently I’ve began juicing for breakfast and lunch. I won’t get in to all the details about it in this post, but since I’ve been putting nutrient rich foods into my body for breakfast and lunch I was not feeling so great about the processed foods I have been eating for supper. While pizza is and will probably always be one of my favorite foods, I don’t think I will suffer too much if I am not eating it multiple times a week… 😉

Little by little, I’ve been making changes by incorporating more greens into my diet and reducing the amount of grains i’ve been eating. Which leads me to my current love affair, kale! For those of you that don’t know, kale is the green that’s got it all. Just to sum it up quickly it’s densely packed with fiber, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. This little leaf has been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties, lower cholesteral and even prevent and fight cancers. It is definitely worth the google if you would like to learn more.

Heat oil, garlic and ginger in a large skillet (or even kettle) on medium until garlic and ginger become fragrant. Add in the kale and soy sauce. Cook until kale has wilted. I like mine with a little bit of crunch left in it. Season with pepper and additional soy sauce as desired. Enjoy!

**Note: Kale can be purchased in bulk pre-shredded with carrots from discount chains, like S@m’s Club.

Here’s a sneak peak of some raw images from Coral’s photo shoot today. She is always one of my favorite subjects to photograph. Partially because she’s my niece and partially because she’s a TOTAL ham.

My Adorable Niece

Best part of photographing a 3 year old? Inherent cuteness, no posing required, and LOTS of exercise.

A toast and a Korean blessing by grandma, dinner and a slideshow of Isabella’s first 12 months, first steps and first time vomiting on camera. I’m sure these cherished memories will be replayed for every boyfriend she brings home.

Izzy downed a gallon of miso soup, a cupcake and even helped eat her friends cupcake too. Afterall, that’s what friends are for, right?

Phew! Easy, right?
Now that the party is all set up it’s time to put the baby to work!

The Doljabi is a “game” *coughritualcough* where the innocent and unsuspecting little one is forced to choose his/her life destiny before a large audience of friends and family. If the average American teen thinks it’s a lot of pressure to decide at 18… try being a Korean-American 1 year-old!

I kid, I kid. It really is a game and it’s all in good fun. Here are the objects her parents selected for her…

Dol towers are… Well, I don’t know really. Originally they were stacks of rice cakes that were passed out to guests as party favors. Each color of the rice cake represents different elements of life: health, safety, purity, honesty, and of course a long life. Sharing the rice cakes is supposed to help bless the child with each of these things. Also, they are really yummy and just should be shared! Today the more modern thing to do is create a series of towers that represent the child. In our case we had three. One that represented her chinese zodiac for the year she was born, one that had her Korean name and one that said first birthday. They are more for decorative purposes and, in a way, maybe a little more practical than trying to consume/pass-off hundreds of rice cakes…

My Grandmother and I working on our tower

Here’s what the finished towers looked like at the party. Not too shabby, eh? This was the combined effort of 5 people and many hours. Now, as long as my family produces female children, cyclically in the year of the tiger, whom all happen to take the Korean name of Min Young, we won’t have to do this again… ever. Just kidding guys. It wasn’t THAT bad.

I realize I have been slacking on the blog front, so tonight I decided to dedicate part of my evening to playing catch up. Of course, my computer would choose tonight to run slower than molasses, not load my pictures and corrupt my external. Argh, argh, argh.

I know it’s been about 192 days since my last restart, but come on little HP! Don’t fail me now!!

What an amazing day, I was just gifted two sewing machines! One is a 50 year-old Singer Slant-O Matic and the other is a practically brand-new Brother.

*sigh* beautiful, aren’t they?

I am so excited! The two machines together have all the bells and whistles a girl could ever wish for. Can I say, free arm, ruffle foot, double needles, blind hems, and 59 other stitches! I don’t even know what cording is, but I already know I love it! Oh, am I ever swooning.

A big big thank you to three very wonderful women. Lu, Sandy and Carol, I really can’t thank you enough!!